AUDIO: AIRLINE PILOTS iPADS FAIL
American Airlines was forced to delay multiple flights on Tuesday night after the iPad app used by pilots crashed. The cockpit iPads are used as an “electronic flight bag”, replacing 35 pounds of paper manuals which pilots are typically required to carry on flights. They manuals contain flight plans throughout the airline’s fleet. But the iPad app crashed on Tuesday, affecting multiple planes scattered throughout the entire fleet, leaving the pilots unable to take off. According to one passenger, “The pilot came on and said that his first mate’s iPad powered down unexpectedly, and his had too, and that the entire 737 fleet on American had experienced the same behavior.” In some cases, the flights had to return to the gate to access a Wi-Fi connection to fix the issue.
* An Apple product having battery problems? What are the odds?
* Maybe they should forget the iPads and go back to cassette tapes.
* Oh great. My computer does this too but it doesn’t stop a plane from flying.
* He said it powered down unexpectedly. When you’re a pilot, you don’t like to say “it crashed.”
* It turns out another pilot spilled his vodka tonic on his iPad and the whole system shorted out.
* 35 pounds of paper manuals? Sounds like every electronic device I ever bought.
* Better that it happened at the gate than at 35,000 feet.
CLIP: “This is your captain speaking. There is absolutely no cause for alarm.”
